Merkel strikes migration truce on German right

BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party and one of its ruling coalition partners sought Sunday to move past their differences over the migration crisis.

Merkel’s CDU and its Bavarian sister party CSU, led by Horst Seehofer, released a joint position paper calling for the implementation of “transit zones” at the country’s border and temporarily freezing family reunification efforts.

In a concession by Seehofer, the paper did not include an upper limit on the number of refugees allowed in the country, signaling that the CSU has given up demands for such a measure. Seehofer gave an ultimatum to Merkel last week pressing her to set such an upper limit. Merkel strongly opposed the idea.

The accord follows two difficult months for Merkel, who has taken a hit in opinion polls for her handling of the crisis, while parties like the far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) gain in popularity. Merkel’s endorsement of transit zones and a reunification freeze suggest she is trying to regain the confidence of the right without abandoning her left flank. She continues to stand by her decision to temporarily open the borders in September.

The proposed Sunday truce buys Merkel and Seehofer political breathing space. Both have important party congresses coming up in the next few weeks where they need to show their faithful they can stick together to keep power in Berlin.

Coming into this weekend, the chancellor wanted to reestablish unity within her right-of-center camp, and differentiate it from the Social Democrats (SPD) on migration. By tacking toward Seehofer on Sunday, Merkel took a risk to quiet the fighting within the political family at the cost of possibly alienating her coalition partners in the SPD.

The risk seems manageable. The SPD leader and vice chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, has no incentive to walk away from the government: His standing is considerably weaker than Merkel’s. According to a recent poll, 40 percent of Germans consider the chancellor best suited to deal with the refugee crisis, 28 percent Seehofer and only 8 percent Gabriel.

And, though Merkel moved to pacify the right, she didn’t give up on her “We can cope with it” stance on Sunday, keeping her firmly on the center and left ground that the SPD might want to claim on this issue. Gabriel could even live with an upper limit on new arrivals as called for by Seehofer.

The reprieve for Merkel could be temporary. Expect new trouble for her if Austria does not keep its promise to bring refugees to the German (read Bavarian) border in a more orderly fashion and for that or any other reason Seehofer backs away from Sunday’s agreement. Another coalition meeting is scheduled for Thursday.

Left to right: The governing trio of Gabriel, Merkel and Seehofer. | Getty

Transit zone divisions

Merkel, Seehofer and Gabriel met earlier Sunday for about two hours but departed without delivering a statement. A Merkel spokesperson told journalists there were still “several open issues that are yet to be solved,” and other meetings were to follow among Gabriel, Merkel and Seehofer.

Only a few hours later, however, following another meeting between the heads of the CDU and CSU, the two parties released the joint position paper.

The paper calls for a two year freeze on reunification of refugee families, “in order to manage the current situation.” Earlier this weekend, reports about the CSU planning to push this measure had prompted Gabriel to call the idea “unconstitutional.”

The position paper also confirms the adherence of the center-right parties to the introduction of “transit zones,” listing them as the first of seven national measures to be implemented and calling them “the most urgent measure to better control our border.”

“Transit zones” are supposed to allow authorities to detain asylum seekers at the border while their claims are assessed. Originally suggested by the conservative CSU, they also found backing among the center-right CDU, including Merkel, while the left-wing SPD continues to oppose them.

Following a meeting of the SPD heads on Saturday, SPD’s Malu Dreyer, head of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, told German Press Agency DPA that “transit zones” were both impracticable and “problematic for a state founded on the rule of law.”

Instead, the SPD favors the creation of so-called Einreisezentren (entry centers) in the federal states, where refugees could instantly be registered and file an application for asylum.

Renewed vows

The issue of “transit zones” is helping to bring the CDU and CSU together on migration and to focus its attacks on the SPD, observers in Berlin say, noting that the position paper released on Sunday night was a step in that direction.

The fighting on the right dominated news here for weeks. Criticism of Merkel’s refugee policy by Seehofer and other Bavarian CSU politicians peaked in late September when Seehofer invited Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán, one of the harshest opponents of Merkel’s refugee policy on the European level, to a CSU party meeting in Bavaria.

The influx of migrants has impacted Bavaria the most of any German region. Seehofer is under pressure from his party and electorate in his home region to assert himself with Berlin and stem the flow of new arrivals.

Polish guy

YY

It’s just a matter of time. There will be rape, murder, theft, terrorist attacks etc.
ALL of this will be accounted for at Merkel. After a long an successful career, this one destructive action will be the end of it.
In time, her inviting of muslims will be considered high treason.

Posted on 11/2/15 | 11:40 AM CET

YY

Dana

So, 1.5 mil Muslim refugees will be allowed to stay in Germany, supported by the government and there will be no problems. Merkel and her clan are playing politics and probably will be elected again. They hope to bring a generic revival to the ageing population…but how? Muslims marry Muslims, don’t mix ! The Germans will eventually be replaced but who will sweep the streets, wash the dishes and clean the toilets? Not the poor Muslims!

Opening the German labour market quickly and comprehensively to migrants would provide a boost to the German economy. The substantial increase in the labour supply should contribute to increased German output.

Posted on 11/2/15 | 2:42 PM CET

Steve

Pathetic. Every day that these imbeciles keep the borders open to these invader hordes is another day of high treason against Germany, Europe and the West, especially since all the other nations on the route have said they will close their borders to them too if Germany does. The upper limit of asylum grants should be 40k a year, and only for those who go through proper channels not invader-migrants. Family reunion should be frozen permanently for all the people who have entered Germany and claimed asylum illegally, which is every last one passing through other safe nations especially European ones, as set out in article 16a of the German Basic Law, who should be deported immediately. The idiot and treasonous SPD speaks of the rule of law whilst violating it every day. These deluded criminals are acting like the French aristocracy before the Revolution that guillotined them in droves. They seem to think they will get away with this monstrous betrayal. They won’t.

It’s about Merkel waving the white flag of surrender without any thoughts about actions or standing the grounds

For those who aren’t firm in german language: google translate does a fairly good job on those texts.

At least the content – though partly poorly translated – is so much easier to understand than Merkel’s strange actions are for most of the german (and probably european) citizens.

Posted on 11/3/15 | 2:17 AM CET

nostradamus

“Merkel’s endorsement of transit zones and a reunification freeze suggest she is trying to regain the confidence of the right without abandoning her left flank.”

It’s just talking, talking, talking. Plans over plans are presented to the public and no results ever heard of later.

Merkel has f*d up germany’s future and that of a lot of it’s european neighbors.

It’s another placebo and a liars cosmetic. The aim is to hide the fact that it was Mrs.Merkel herself who started this mess. It’s quite amusing to see, that even members of her own CDU party as well as the CSU do frankly admit, that Merkel would ‘loose her face’ if she would change her course for 180 degree.

Merkel and her claqeurs do rely on the poor memory of the people.

We’ll see

Posted on 11/3/15 | 2:29 AM CET

nostradamus

Following a meeting of the SPD heads on Saturday, SPD’s Malu Dreyer, head of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, told German Press Agency DPA that “transit zones” were both impracticable and “problematic for a state founded on the rule of law.”

In the german media, the above mentioned arguments are not present.

Here the SPD is using words like prison, shooting, detention. They are telling phantasies that remind of the pre 1989 east german DDR frontier.

The SPD wants to let every asylum seeker into the country in hope that they will be nice and show up for registration in some centers placed all over germany. They are ignoring the fact, that it is a common behavior for a lot of the imigrants to ‘vanish’ from their camps and spread around wherever they want to go and probably quite a lot of them seeking for social support in more than one city.

Posted on 11/3/15 | 2:41 AM CET

nostradamus

@YY
“After a long an successful career”

I have been a follower of Merkel for the last years and I have thought, that she did a fairly good job.

But thinking about it, my conlusion is, that she mostly had ‘success’ without doing anything. She has been mostly passive and if things went right, she was there to cash in the fame. If something went wrong, she almost always found a way to blame somebody else.

So to me, her seemingly thoughtful way of acting, has been nothing but non-acting. Now that she has actively done the work of a chancelor, she has failed miserably.

Posted on 11/3/15 | 2:49 AM CET

nostradamus

@regisrb
“Opening the German labour market quickly and comprehensively to migrants would provide a boost to the German economy.”

I doubt that theory, because it will take years for them to learn the german language even at a minimum level, what work to do without communication? Second, there is no need for people who have no skills for jobs beyond sweeping the sidewalk etc.

There are some migrants that will make their way and get a useful job, but you can bet that won’t be more than 10 or 15 percent of them.

Posted on 11/3/15 | 2:58 AM CET

Anka

I agree with the comment that merkel as a leader appears to do nothing and steps in to take over and take credit when another country steps in to do something. I’ve seen many wonderful articles about her taking a stand with Putin over Ukraine when in fact it was the Polish that alerted EU to the crisis, it was the Polish who at the beganing of the year began evacuating vulnerable citizens from Ukraine to Poland, it was the Polish who are offering military support and financial aid. I saw a utube video by the Ukraine locals in a village where one woman stated the only help they are Recieving is from Kiev and polish planes dropping them food supplies ect, whilst they are being bombed by the Russians. they actually showed clear footage of planes sending bombs on their village and dead children and adults. Where is Merkel? And her support? She is busy making deals with Putin that he chooses not to stick with, all the while wonderful things are written about her taking a stand and her committed support. At the beginning of the refugee crisis, her stance may have been interpretated as admirable, now it can be interpretated as pure stubbornness. A good leader is a flexible one, one willing to admit that a mistake has been made, or that a strategy applied is no longer applicable. What we are witnessing is not a good leader. The censoring of hospital staff. Police. Media and social media also suggests she is a dangerous leader, who cares nothing for her people, but her self interests.

Posted on 11/3/15 | 5:00 AM CET

bob

German business wants cheaper labor to compete in a world market. The business and political elite won’t have to live anywhere near these new migrants, although they may spot them out the windscreen of their Mercedes S550 or the migrants may wait tables for them in an upscale bistro.